You Belong with Me

You Belong with Me
"You Belong with Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released to US radio on April 20, 2009, as the third single from her second studio album, Fearless (2008). Inspired by a phone call between a member of her touring band and his girlfriend that she overheard, Swift wrote the song with Liz Rose to depict a narrator's unrequited love for a boy unappreciated by his girlfriend. Swift and Nathan Chapman produced "You Belong with Me", which features a banjo-led production and incorporates fiddle, mandolin, and rock-influenced bass and electric guitars. Although the single was promoted to country radio by Big Machine Records, critics deemed it a pop song that stylistically aligns with 1980s subgenres such as pop rock and power pop.
When "You Belong with Me" was first released, critics praised the song's radio-friendly production and emotional engagement that appealed to a broad audience, although some deemed Swift's songwriting formulaic. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, "You Belong with Me" was nominated in three categories, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The single reached the top ten on charts and received sales certifications in Australia, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand. In the United States, it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first country song to reach number one on both Hot Country Songs and the all-genre Radio Songs chart. The single was certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Roman White directed the song's music video, which stars Swift as both the antagonist, an unsympathetic, popular cheerleader; and the protagonist, a sympathetic girl next door who yearns for the antagonist's boyfriend; some critics took issue with the video's narrative as antifeminist. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where "You Belong with Me" won Best Female Video, rapper Kanye West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech, which caused a controversy widely covered by the media. Following the 2019 dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she re-recorded the song as "You Belong with Me (Taylor's Version)" for her re-recorded album Fearless (Taylor's Version) (2021). "You Belong with Me" was included on the set lists of all five of her headlining tours.
Writing and release
Taylor Swift wrote songs for her second studio album, Fearless, while touring as an opening act for other country musicians to promote her self-titled debut studio album during 2007–2008, when she was 17–18 years old. Continuing the romantic themes of her first album, Swift wrote songs about love and personal experiences from the perspective of a teenage girl to ensure her fans could relate to Fearless. To this extent, Swift said that nearly every album track had a "face" that she associated with it. The end product is a collection of songs about the challenges of love with prominent high-school and fairy-tale lyrical imagery. Swift and producer Nathan Chapman recorded over 50 songs for Fearless, and "You Belong with Me" was one of the 13 tracks that made the final cut. Recorded by engineer Char Carlson, the track was produced by Swift and Chapman, and Justin Niebank mixed it at Blackbird Studios in Nashville.
Swift was inspired to write "You Belong with Me" after she overheard a phone call between a band member and his girlfriend. She recalled that he became defensive when his girlfriend confronted him, which made her come up with the opening lines: "You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset. She's going off about something that you said." Out of sympathy for him, she imagined herself as a girl with hidden feelings for a close male friend, whom she understands but is in a relationship with another girl. She immediately wrote down the lyrics and, in a songwriting session with co-writer Liz Rose, developed a complete narrative. Swift played the pre-chorus and chorus to Rose and sang the lines, "She wears short skirts/ I wear T-shirts", which were her favorite to write on the song. Rose then suggested Swift to write "something about bleachers" and they conceived another lyric, "She's cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers." She described her character as "girl-next-door-itis" and unnoticed by the boy, and the girlfriend a "popular girl".
Before Fearless was released, Big Machine Records made "You Belong with Me" available for download exclusively via the iTunes Store in November 2008, as part of the promotional campaign "Countdown to Fearless". Big Machine released the song to US country radio on April 20, 2009, as the third single from Fearless. The track was released to US contemporary hit radio on May 18, 2009, by Big Machine in partnership with Republic Records. In the United Kingdom, "You Belong with Me" was released as a single on August 24, 2009, under Mercury Records imprint.
Music and lyrics
"You Belong with Me" follows a verse–chorus form that has a pre-chorus between the verse and the chorus. The verse and the chorus follow the diatonic I−V−ii−IV chord progression (F♯−C♯−g♯−B), and each chord is maintained for two measures. The pre-chorus, though using the same chords, follows the ii−IV−I−V progression, and each chord for one measure. The track is set to a medium-tempo 4/4 time signature, and each section is divided into eight-measure phrases. In her performance, Swift sings with melodic variation: each section from the verse to the pre-chorus rises in register. Towards the chorus's end, Swift uses melisma on the words "see" and "me" in the lyric "Why can't you see/ you belong with me?"—for each of the word, she sings with three notes that descend a short distance (B−A♯) then a considerable drop (A♯−D♯). Musicologists Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding labelled this three-note melodic motif the "T-Drop", which recurs on many of Swift's later songs.
In mainstream publications, critics generally labelled "You Belong with Me" a country pop song, but many wrote that it has a pop production appropriate for more than one radio format. Jody Rosen categorized "You Belong with Me" as power pop. According to composer and musicologist Nolan Gasser, the country-music stylistic foundation is in the instruments—banjo strums that drive verses, a pedal steel guitar, occasional slide guitar riffs, and a slight twang in Swift's vocals. As the song progresses into the chorus, the banjo and pedal steel submerge to make room for electric and bass guitars. Musicologists cited the song structure, rhythm, and the collective use of acoustic, electric, and bass guitars, to say that the song is stylistically aligned with 1980s pop rock, new wave, and pop-punk. For Perone, this 1980s connection is in the "highly unusual" incorporation of guitars and country-indebted banjo, fiddle, and mandolin in the steady eighth-note texture.
In "You Belong with Me", a female narrator expresses her feelings for a male friend who is in a relationship with an unappreciative girlfriend. The lyrical motifs evoke a typical American high-school setting—the narrator sees herself as a typical girl and an underdog, and the girlfriend is a popular, attractive cheerleader. The narrator appreciates the male friend ("She doesn't get your humor like I do" / "She'll never know your story like I do"), but her affection is unbeknownst to him. In the verses, the narrator discusses how she and the girlfriend contrast: "She wears high heels, I wear sneakers/ She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers." Throughout the song, she persuades the male friend to acknowledge her charm. For Gasser, the narrative lyrics are the most profound country-music influences on "You Belong with Me". A few critics found the lyrics rather melancholy. Some commented that contrary to Swift's real-life status as an attractive and popular figure, her narrator's position as an underdog contributed to her reliability. Ken Tucker in NPR observed that the lyrics and vocal performance are full of "intense ache" that effectively conveys adolescent yearning.
Critical reception
In Fearless album reviews, a multitude of critics considered "You Belong with Me" a standout and recommended it for download. Some lauded the production as catchy and radio-friendly which makes "You Belong with Me" a crossover success—Craig S. Sermon from the Telegram & Gazette described the song as an "irresistible keeper", and Chris Richards from The Washington Post praised how "perfectly natural" the incorporation of country-music banjos and new-wave guitars sounds. Other complimented how the lyrical sentiments resonated with a broad audience including not only Swift's core teenage-girl fans but also adults.
Josh Love from The Village Voice picked it as one of the album's great songs for displaying "preternatural wisdom and inclusiveness", Dan DeLuca of The Philadelphia Inquirer found the song "uncannily sophisticated". Other critics were more reserved in their praise. Williams lauded the crossover appeal and contended that although the lyrics might come off as immature, the song proved resonant with Swift's core audience of teenagers as well as those who wish to relive their high-school days. In an article for Slant Magazine discussing nominees for the 2010 Grammy Awards, Jonathan Keefe remarked although "You Belong with Me" is not Swift's best-written song, it stood out among other contenders because of her songwriting craftsmanship. On a negative side, Johnny Davis of The Observer commented the lyrics' high-school imagery "may needle British ears". The St. Petersburg Times complained that the song was generic and similar to any of Swift's previous releases.
In retrospect, Nate Jones from Vulture (2021) deemed it her best song in her 179-song discography, lauding it as a "classic" song about high-school feelings and wrote: "The line about short skirts and T-shirts will likely be mentioned in Swift's obituary one day." In a 2020 ranking of Swift's 161-song repertoire, Hannah Mylrea of NME placed it at number 22. Sheffield in his 2021 ranking of Swift's 206 tracks, meanwhile, placed it at number 113. Alexis Petridis from The Guardian said that although it is a well-written song, it was somewhat less impactful than Fearless lead single, "Love Story". Some critics remarked that its radio-friendly production and pop crossover appeal preceded Swift's subsequent career move from country to mainstream pop.
Accolades
"You Belong with Me" featured on 2009 year-end lists by Pitchfork at number 69 and The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll at number 10. The song was ranked among the greatest songs of the 2000s decade by CMT (number eight) and VH1 (number 50). Billboard included "You Belong with Me" in their 2017 list of the "100 Greatest Choruses of the 21st Century", writing: "There were about a dozen moments ... you could point to as proof that Taylor Swift would one day become the biggest pop star in the world, but maybe none bigger than the immaculate chorus of ['You Belong With Me']." It ranked first on Teen Vogue'''s 2020 list of the "91 Best Songs About Unrequited Love".
At the 2010 Grammy Awards, "You Belong with Me" received three nominations: Song of the Year (lost to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"), Record of the Year (lost to Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody"), and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (lost to Beyoncé's "Halo"). It won Favorite Song at the 2010 Kids Choice Awards and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards, but lost to Lady A's "Need You Now" (2009). At the 2010 BMI Country Awards, which was organized by Broadcast Music, Inc. to honor the year's most-performed country songs on U.S. radio on television, "You Belong with Me" made Swift the first songwriter to win Song of the Year three times in a row, after she had won for "Teardrops on My Guitar" in 2008 and "Love Story" in 2009.
Commercial performance
"You Belong with Me" debuted at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 2008 and peaked at number two in August 2009. Driven by non-country radio airplay, it gained the largest crossover radio audience since Faith Hill's "Breathe" (2000). On the Radio Songs chart, "You Belong with Me" was Swift's first number-one song and the first country crossover to reach number one since Billboard began incorporating Nielsen BDS-monitored data in 1990; it stayed at number one for two weeks and spent 49 weeks in total. On other airplay charts, "You Belong with Me" spent two weeks atop Hot Country Songs and 14 weeks atop Adult Contemporary, and it peaked at number two on both Pop Songs and Adult Pop Songs. It was the second-most-played song on US airplay of 2009, behind Swift's "Love Story". "You Belong with Me" was certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for seven million units based on sales and streaming and had sold 4.9 million copies in the United States by July 2019.
"You Belong with Me" peaked within the top ten on singles charts in Canada (three), Australia (five), New Zealand (five), and Japan (ten). The single peaked within the top 40 in Ireland (12), Slovakia (17), the United Kingdom (30), Hungary (31), and Denmark (32). In Canada, the song reached number one on three airplay charts: Canada Country, Canada CHR/Top 40, and Canada Hot AC. The single was certified platinum in Japan and platinum or multi-platinum in the English-speaking countries including Australia (four times platinum), Canada (double platinum), and New Zealand and the United Kingdom (both platinum).
Music video
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Roman White. In the video, Swift portrays both the protagonist ("the nerd, who is pining away for this guy that she can't have") and antagonist ("the popular girl, horrible, scary, intimidating and perfect"). Actor Lucas Till, whom Swift met while on set of Hannah Montana: The Movie in April 2008, portrays the male lead. In a behind-the-scene video aired on Great American Country, Swift elaborated on the concept: the protagonist wishes she could be in the antagonist's position to be with the boy. Filming took place within two days in Gallatin and Hendersonville in Nashville. In scenes which feature both the protagonist and antagonist, Swift used a body double.
The video starts with Till's character arguing with his girlfriend through a phone call. The protagonist, with big glasses and curly blonde hair, notices and the two communicate by holding up signs through their adjoining bedroom windows. The boy closes his window, not knowing that the blonde holds up a sign saying, "I love you." The blonde, while in her room, tries on different costumes associated with different high-school archetypes and bursts out dance moves without knowing that the boy is watching through his window curtain; White replaced Swift's choreographed moves with what she described as "the dumbest moves". The next day, the blonde is sitting on a bench while reading a book as the boy approaches and talks with her. The antagonist, donning straight brunette hair, arrives and kisses the boy in her car as she gives the blonde a hostile look.
At a football game, the brunette is a cheerleader and the blonde sits on the bleachers, performing in the school band (played by Swift's touring band). After scoring the winning touchdown, the boy finds his girlfriend flirting with a teammate (played by a friend of Swift's brother Austin), resulting in a heated argument as the blonde witnesses. Back at their bedroom windows, the boy and the blonde again communicate through signs; he asks her if she is going to prom, and she says no. The blonde notices the boy's disappointed look and decides to go to the prom in a white dress without her glasses. The brunette approaches the boy, but he ignores her and goes to the blonde instead. Ending the video, the boy and the blonde reveal folded signs saying "I love you" to each other and kiss. Both the football and prom scenes were filmed at Pope John Paul II High School, with the school supplying many extras, including students, band members, cheerleaders, and football players. On the video's conclusion, White explained that it is meant to portray "who she really is", and Swift thought it was a happy ending.
Release and reception
The video premiered on May 2, 2009, on CMT. Chris Ryan of MTV said that it has a similar plot to a rom-com and deemed it the most memorable video on MTV of the year. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won Best Female Video. During Swift's acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West interrupted her, grabbing her microphone and stating, "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you and I'ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time", referencing Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", a nominee in the same category. Later in the evening, during her acceptance speech for winning Video of the Year, Beyoncé called Swift from backstage to complete her acceptance speech. Public reaction turned against West; then-President of the United States Barack Obama called West a "jackass". West later issued an apology which Swift accepted. Michael Deacon of The Daily Telegraph, in the wake of the controversy, defended West and commented that "You Belong with Me" was "sappy and dull".
The video was nominated for Video of the Year at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards. At the 2010 CMT Music Awards, the video received nominations for "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year", but lost to Carrie Underwood's "Cowboy Casanova" and Miranda Lambert's "White Liar", respectively. At the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards, the video was nominated for the MuchMusic Video Award for Best International Artist Video and the MuchMusic Video Award for People's Choice: Favourite International Video, but lost to Miley Cyrus' video for "Party in the U.S.A." and Adam Lambert's video for "Whataya Want From Me", respectively.
Accolades
Live performances and other usage
Swift's first televised performance of "You Belong with Me" was at a free outdoor concert on May 29, 2009, broadcast by The Today Show. Following promotion for the song, she performed it on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Studio 330 Sessions, at the 2009 CMA Music Festival, at the 2009 CMT Music Awards, and at the 2009 V Festival, in the summer of 2009. Swift performed "You Belong with Me" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on September 13, 2009, the same day in which Kanye West interrupted her acceptance speech. She began the performance in a subway station, dressed in a brown trench coat and black beanie, and continued it in a subway, taking off the trench coat and revealing a red cocktail dress. Once the subway docked at a stop, Swift completed the performance atop a yellow taxi cab. Billboard critics ranked it as the 14th greatest VMAs performance of all time in their 2022 list. Swift later performed the song on The View and Saturday Night Live. In the fall of 2009 and winter of 2009 through 2010, Swift commenced promotion for "You Belong with Me" countries outside of the United States; she performed the song on the United Kingdom channel GMTV, the Australian charity concert Sydney Sound Relief, and the Japanese talk show The Sukkiri Morning Show.
Swift performed a medley, which included "You Belong with Me" at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Wearing casual white blouse and black skinny jeans, Swift performed "Today Was a Fairytale" and then announced, "It's a fairy tale and an honor to share the stage with Stevie Nicks". Following, the two performed a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" (1976). Swift then grabbed her acoustic guitar for the third and final part in her medley, jumping into a twangy version of "You Belong with Me". Nicks stood back, tapping her tambourine and nodding, every so often stepping up to the microphone to sing with Swift. Eric Ditzian of MTV News was disappointed at Swift's and Nicks' harmonies, but said the two "made for a compelling twosome". The performance followed much backlash in regards to Swift's off key singing, which caused Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records, to issue a statement defending the performance.
"You Belong with Me" is performed as the opening number on all 2009 and 2010 dates of Swift's first headlining tour, the Fearless Tour. Before Swift or the dancers entered the stage, a video played on the overhead screens; it showed various celebrities, including Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Faith Hill, Lucas Till and Swift herself, sharing their definitions of the word "fearless". Following the video's completion, the band and backup dancers appeared, dressed in yellow cheerleading uniforms. Swift, dressed in a white marching band uniform, then emerges from the bottom of the stage and commences singing. Swift roams around the stage singing and backup dancers perform cheerleading routines while projections of cheerleaders are shown on the stage. Midway through the performance, the backup dancers removed Swift's marching band uniform to reveal a sparkly cocktail dress; she is then handed a rhinestoned acoustic guitar and finishes the performance.
"You Belong with Me" became a staple on the set lists of Swift's subsequent concert tours. The song was also performed on the Speak Now World Tour and the Red Tour. On several concerts of the 1989 World Tour (2015), Swift performed an acoustic version of "You Belong with Me". The song featured as a regular part of the set lists for Swift's fifth and sixth headlining concert tours: the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018), where it was part of a medley with "Style" and "Love Story"; and the Eras Tour (2023).
In November 2009, American rock singer Butch Walker covered "You Belong with Me" for a digital single release. James Christopher Monger of Allmusic said the cover was infused "with the same karaoke glee that fueled previous installments". According to Mikael Wood of Billboard, the cover's instrumentation is fueled by banjo; he claimed it was an "online success". Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine described the cover's arrangement as "fantastic" and, to him, it "emphasized the terrific melody and structure that are the song's real selling points". Band Hero for consoles features "You Belong with Me" as one of sixty-five songs from "mainstream acts".
A parody entitled "TMZ" was included on "Weird Al" Yankovic's studio album Alpocalypse (2011). A music video for the parody, directed by Bill Plympton, was filmed in October 2010, and was included on the album's DVD.
Personnel
Credits adapted from Fearless album liner notes
Taylor Swift – vocals, songwriter, producer
Liz Rose – songwriter
Nathan Chapman – producer
Steve Blackmon – assistant recording engineer, assistant mixer
Chad Carslon – recording engineer
Justin Niebank – mixer
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end chart
All-time chart
Certifications
"You Belong with Me (Taylor's Version)"
On April 9, 2021, Swift released Fearless (Taylor's Version), the re-recording of her 2008 album, through Republic Records. The release was part of Swift's actions to claim the rights to her masters, following the 2019 dispute. The re-recording of "You Belong with Me", subtitled "Taylor's Version", is the sixth track on Fearless (Taylor's Version) track list. "You Belong with Me (Taylor's Version)" features the same core production as the original, with a smoother, more nuanced production. Upon the album's release, "You Belong with Me (Taylor's Version)" charted on the official singles charts of Australia, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Critical reception
Critical reception of the track was mainly positive, with most reviews observing the varied vocal delivery. Emily St. James of Vox was impressed by Swift's vocal delivery on the re-recorded version, describing the vocal delivery as stronger due to age and experience. St. James praised Swift's varied approach to her vocal delivery, commenting: "2021 Swift is much more comfortable settling into her natural alto range". She also opined that the perspective of the song's storytelling changes over time, calling the new version warmer and more empathetic. Hannah Mylrea of NME claims the song is "filled with youthful yearning", asserting that Swift revisits the song with kindness and affection. Kitty Empire of The Guardian deemed the production smoother and the quality of playing more nuanced with particular reference to the "interplay between the guitar and banjo".
Personnel
Credits adapted from Fearless (Taylor's Version)'' album liner notes
Taylor Swift – lead vocals, songwriter, producer
Liz Rose – songwriter
Christopher Rowe – producer, recording engineer
Max Bernstein – steel guitar
Matt Billingslea – drums, percussion programming
Dan Burns – percussion programming
Caitlin Evanson – background vocals
Derek Garten – additional engineer
Serban Ghenea – mixer
John Hanes – engineer
Amos Heller – bass guitar
Mike Meadows – acoustic guitar, banjitar, banjo, mandolin
David Payne – recording engineer
Lowell Reynolds – additional engineer
Paul Sidoti – electric guitar
Jonathan Yudkin – fiddle
Charts
Certifications
See also
List of best-selling singles in the United States
List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 2009 (U.S.) and 2010 (U.S.)
List of Hot Country Songs number ones of 2009
Notes
References
Cited literature
2008 songs
2009 singles
Big Machine Records singles
Taylor Swift songs
Songs written by Liz Rose
Songs written by Taylor Swift
Song recordings produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer)
Song recordings produced by Taylor Swift
Song recordings produced by Chris Rowe
Music videos directed by Roman White
MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video
American power pop songs
Country pop songs